Well, I'm a sucker when it comes to skeletonized knives. Which is weird, since it don't ever neck carry them. Hate having them hang there. But I digress. So when the Ka-Bar neck knife came out last year, I mentally filed it away in the "must get someday" folder, and eventually forgot about it. However, due to the sudden resurgence of this forum, my wanting for this knife came back to me. When a local store had the 1117 on for sale, it was a no brainer to pick it up.
First Impressions:
Right out of the box, it's a very sexy knife. Now, for personal reasons, I'm more of a drop point kind of guy. However, I can and do appreciate the classic look of the Ka-Bar. The clip point, the fuller, the grind - on this knife, it's very well executed.
Comparisons:
Like I said, I do love neck knives. I have and had several - Beckers, Cold Steel, CRKT, Bucks. Several I've given away to friends and family. Here's a comparison shot with a few I had handy:
Buck Packlite (wifes'), BK11 (mine), BK14 (daughters'), 1117
The blade on the 1117 is noticeably longer. The clip point really seems to elongate the blade. However, it doesn't impede the feel or balance of the blade at all. it might be a little big for neck carry, but that's not how i carry these knives anyways, so that really doesn't affect me. And like I said, The blade is just plain sexy looking.
It was quite dull, probably the dullest blade I've purchased. I chalk that up to it being the display knife (last one), so I can't blame Ka-Bar for that. Spent time with it on my Lansky to reprofile and sharpen.
The sheath is a molded plastic job, which is longer (duh) but seemingly thinner than the BK Necker sheath. I feel it makes for a bit better (less bulky) pocket carry. Lots of options for paracord, tek-loks, yadda yadda. Retention is rock solid, with zero rattle and zero chance of it falling out.
Comparison shot with BK Necker sheath, and Azwelke kydex sheath:
And 'cause I got a "what about my sheath daaad??" from my daughter:
Yeah, enough with the pink paracord already...
Now for the handle. This part really pained me. I just could not get comfortable with the knife handle. I have size large hands, but it felt like I couldn't get a proper grip on it. The handle is longer than the BK11, and almost the same length as the handle on the BK14. However, due to the shape of the handle I just could not get a comfortable grip on it.
I think it comes down to the design of the handle itself. Both of the Beckers have a swell at the rear of the handle. It makes for a comfortable grip in your palm, even without the paracord wrap. The 1117, however, tapers downwards at the rear of the handle. That made it bite into the palm of my hand during any cutting jobs. I know it is a scaled down replica of another Ka-Bar knife, but as a three fingered knife, it just didn't work for me. YMMV.
Mods
So I tried some quick wraps to see if it made a difference:
While it did make a bit of difference, it still wasn't what I was expecting in terms of grip and comfort. Stubbornly not wanting to give up on the knife just yet, I thought to myself "Why not make your own handles?". I mean, how hard could it be, right? I've never made them before, and don't have a shop to do it in, but it can't be that difficult? Can it? Armed with some old oak trim I had lying around, a cordless drill, a jigsaw, and lots and lots of sandpaper, I set to work, and came up with these scales:
Now they're not the prettiest, and they do kinda look like they came off a steak knife, (and the placement of the rear screw really bugs my OCD) but they gave me a feel of what this knife would be like with scales. It made a world of difference! I could now get a proper grip on the knife, and cutting tasks were able to be performed without discomfort.
Usage:
Now armed with a useable knife, I waited for the weekend to give this a proper field test.
And then it snowed. 10" Friday and Saturday. Went from no snow to a winter wonderland. Awesome.
So I packed up and went out anyways to a local trail system surrounding a couple of nearby lakes. These trails are frequented by cross country skiers, snowshoers, ....... and idiots without the proper gear who need to get outdoors anyways. I arrived at the trail just as the last flakes were falling. I loaded up, and set off for some glamour shots:
Hiking buddy after playing his favourite game of "how deep can I bury my head?"
I had brought out my twig stove and was thinking of running the knife through it's fire prep paces, but the snow put a nix on that idea. Luckily I brought backup:
So while I waited for my hot chocolate to boil, I ran the knife thru some simple tasks:
scraped up birch bark to light with a firesteel:
Batoned thru a sammich:
I really feel the fuller here is the key when cross-batoning thru smoked ham
I also whittled a stick (no pics) and tried getting some curls - not bad, considering I suck at feathersticks:
As I was leaving, the sun finally poked its head out:
It did pretty well in the wood prep category. I was able to get good leverage on the knife (although my thumb ended up on the spine before the jimped section). It whittled surprisingly well. I'm really starting to the knife now; I think I'll clip it onto my water bottle holder that I'm converting into a small quick daypack setup.
Final Thoughts:
I do really like this knife - just don't love it. Although the handles I made put it firmly out of the neck carrying option, I really can't see myself using it without them. Just not comfortable in my hands. Maybe others with different sized hands have had different experiences. I really hope Ka-Bar will one day offer scales for this knife - the Zytel ones like the ones offered for the BK14 would do wonders for this knife, while still keeping it fairly lightweight. The positives of this knife are its blade shape (love it), the ease of sharpening and maintaining the 1095, and the light weight of it as a package. Should be good for stripping the coating and adding a patina of your choice. Bottom line, this is a good small knife at a decent price, and one that is open to modding it how you want.
Thanks for reading, sorry for the rambling
First Impressions:
Right out of the box, it's a very sexy knife. Now, for personal reasons, I'm more of a drop point kind of guy. However, I can and do appreciate the classic look of the Ka-Bar. The clip point, the fuller, the grind - on this knife, it's very well executed.
Comparisons:
Like I said, I do love neck knives. I have and had several - Beckers, Cold Steel, CRKT, Bucks. Several I've given away to friends and family. Here's a comparison shot with a few I had handy:
Buck Packlite (wifes'), BK11 (mine), BK14 (daughters'), 1117
The blade on the 1117 is noticeably longer. The clip point really seems to elongate the blade. However, it doesn't impede the feel or balance of the blade at all. it might be a little big for neck carry, but that's not how i carry these knives anyways, so that really doesn't affect me. And like I said, The blade is just plain sexy looking.
It was quite dull, probably the dullest blade I've purchased. I chalk that up to it being the display knife (last one), so I can't blame Ka-Bar for that. Spent time with it on my Lansky to reprofile and sharpen.The sheath is a molded plastic job, which is longer (duh) but seemingly thinner than the BK Necker sheath. I feel it makes for a bit better (less bulky) pocket carry. Lots of options for paracord, tek-loks, yadda yadda. Retention is rock solid, with zero rattle and zero chance of it falling out.
Comparison shot with BK Necker sheath, and Azwelke kydex sheath:
And 'cause I got a "what about my sheath daaad??" from my daughter:
Yeah, enough with the pink paracord already...
Now for the handle. This part really pained me. I just could not get comfortable with the knife handle. I have size large hands, but it felt like I couldn't get a proper grip on it. The handle is longer than the BK11, and almost the same length as the handle on the BK14. However, due to the shape of the handle I just could not get a comfortable grip on it.
I think it comes down to the design of the handle itself. Both of the Beckers have a swell at the rear of the handle. It makes for a comfortable grip in your palm, even without the paracord wrap. The 1117, however, tapers downwards at the rear of the handle. That made it bite into the palm of my hand during any cutting jobs. I know it is a scaled down replica of another Ka-Bar knife, but as a three fingered knife, it just didn't work for me. YMMV.
Mods
So I tried some quick wraps to see if it made a difference:
While it did make a bit of difference, it still wasn't what I was expecting in terms of grip and comfort. Stubbornly not wanting to give up on the knife just yet, I thought to myself "Why not make your own handles?". I mean, how hard could it be, right? I've never made them before, and don't have a shop to do it in, but it can't be that difficult? Can it? Armed with some old oak trim I had lying around, a cordless drill, a jigsaw, and lots and lots of sandpaper, I set to work, and came up with these scales:
Now they're not the prettiest, and they do kinda look like they came off a steak knife, (and the placement of the rear screw really bugs my OCD) but they gave me a feel of what this knife would be like with scales. It made a world of difference! I could now get a proper grip on the knife, and cutting tasks were able to be performed without discomfort.
Usage:
Now armed with a useable knife, I waited for the weekend to give this a proper field test.
And then it snowed. 10" Friday and Saturday. Went from no snow to a winter wonderland. Awesome.
So I packed up and went out anyways to a local trail system surrounding a couple of nearby lakes. These trails are frequented by cross country skiers, snowshoers, ....... and idiots without the proper gear who need to get outdoors anyways. I arrived at the trail just as the last flakes were falling. I loaded up, and set off for some glamour shots:
Hiking buddy after playing his favourite game of "how deep can I bury my head?"
I had brought out my twig stove and was thinking of running the knife through it's fire prep paces, but the snow put a nix on that idea. Luckily I brought backup:
So while I waited for my hot chocolate to boil, I ran the knife thru some simple tasks:
scraped up birch bark to light with a firesteel:
Batoned thru a sammich:
I really feel the fuller here is the key when cross-batoning thru smoked ham
I also whittled a stick (no pics) and tried getting some curls - not bad, considering I suck at feathersticks:
As I was leaving, the sun finally poked its head out:
It did pretty well in the wood prep category. I was able to get good leverage on the knife (although my thumb ended up on the spine before the jimped section). It whittled surprisingly well. I'm really starting to the knife now; I think I'll clip it onto my water bottle holder that I'm converting into a small quick daypack setup.
Final Thoughts:
I do really like this knife - just don't love it. Although the handles I made put it firmly out of the neck carrying option, I really can't see myself using it without them. Just not comfortable in my hands. Maybe others with different sized hands have had different experiences. I really hope Ka-Bar will one day offer scales for this knife - the Zytel ones like the ones offered for the BK14 would do wonders for this knife, while still keeping it fairly lightweight. The positives of this knife are its blade shape (love it), the ease of sharpening and maintaining the 1095, and the light weight of it as a package. Should be good for stripping the coating and adding a patina of your choice. Bottom line, this is a good small knife at a decent price, and one that is open to modding it how you want.
Thanks for reading, sorry for the rambling
.
